World War 1 (German Empire)
Following the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke of Austria-Este, Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, the Kaiser offered Emperor Franz Josephfull support for Austro-Hungarian plans to invade the Kingdom of Serbia, which Austria-Hungary blamed for the assassination. This unconditional support for Austria-Hungary was called a "blank cheque" by historians, including German Fritz Fischer. Subsequent interpretation – for example at the Versailles Peace Conference – was that this "blank cheque" licensed Austro-Hungarian aggression regardless of the diplomatic consequences, and thus Germany bore responsibility for starting the war, or at least provoking a wider conflict. Germany began the war by targeting its chief rival, France. Germany saw France as its principal danger on the European continent as it could mobilize much faster than Russia and bordered Germany's industrial core in the Rhineland. Unlike Britain and Russia, the French entered the war mainly for revenge against Germany, in particular for France's loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in 1871. The German high command knew that France would muster its forces to go into Alsace-Lorraine. Aside from the very unofficial Septemberprogramm, the Germans never stated a clear list of goals that they wanted out of the war. Western Front Germany did not want to risk lengthy battles along the Franco-German border and instead adopted the Schlieffen Plan, a military strategy designed to cripple France by invading Belgium and Luxembourg, sweeping down to encircle and crush both Paris and the French forces along the Franco-German border in a quick victory. After defeating France, Germany would turn to attack Russia. The plan required violating the official neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, which Britain had guaranteed by treaty. However, the Germans had calculated that Britain would enter the war regardless of whether they had formal justification to do so. At first the attack was successful: the German Army swept down from Belgium and Luxembourg and advanced on Paris, at the nearby River Marne. However, the evolution of weapons over the last century heavily favored defense over offense, especially thanks to the machine gun, so that it took proportionally more offensive force to overcome a defensive position. This resulted in the German lines on the offense contracting to keep up the offensive time table while correspondingly the French lines were extending. In addition, some German units that were originally slotted for the German far right were transferred to the Eastern Front in reaction to Russia mobilizing far faster than anticipated. The combined affect had the German right flank sweeping down in front of Paris instead of behind it exposing the German Right flank to the extending French lines and attack from strategic French reserves stationed in Paris. Attacking the exposed German right flank, the French Army and the British Army put up a strong resistance to the defense of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne, resulting in the German Army retreating. The aftermath of the First Battle of the Marne was a long-held stalemate between the German Army and the Allies in dug-in trench warfare. Further German attempts to break through deeper into France failed at the two battles of Ypres (1st/2nd) with huge casualties. German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn decided to break away from the Schlieffen Plan and instead focus on a war of attrition against France. Falkenhayn targeted the ancient city of Verdun because it had been one of the last cities to hold out against the German Army in 1870, and Falkenhayn knew that as a matter of national pride the French would do anything to ensure that it was not taken. He expected that with proper tactics, French losses would be greater than those of the Germans and that continued French commitment of troops to Verdun would "bleed the French Army white" and then allow the German army to take France easily. In 1916, the Battle of Verdun began, with the French positions under constant shelling and poison gas attack and taking large casualties under the assault of overwhelmingly large German forces. However, Falkenhayn's prediction of a greater ratio of French killed proved to be wrong. Falkenhayn was replaced by Erich Ludendorff, and with no success in sight, the German Army pulled out of Verdun in December 1916 and the battle ended. Eastern Front While the Western Front was a stalemate for the German Army, the Eastern Front eventually proved to be a great success. Despite initial setbacks due to the unexpectedly rapid mobilisation of the Russian army, which resulted in a Russian invasion of East Prussia and Austrian Galicia, the badly organised and supplied Russian Army faltered and the German and Austro-Hungarian armies thereafter steadily advanced eastward. The Germans benefited from political instability in Russia and its population's desire to end the war. In 1917 the German government allowed Russia's communist Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin to travel through Germany from Switzerland into Russia. Germany believed that if Lenin could create further political unrest, Russia would no longer be able to continue its war with Germany, allowing the German Army to focus on the Western Front. In March 1917, the Tsar was ousted from the Russian throne, and in November a Bolshevik government came to power under the leadership of Lenin. Facing political opposition to the Bolsheviks, he decided to end Russia's campaign against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria in order to redirect Bolshevik energy to eliminating internal dissent. In 1918, by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Bolshevik government gave Germany and the Ottoman Empire enormous territorial and economic concessions in exchange for an end to war on the Eastern Front. All of the modern-day Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) were given over to the German occupation authority Ober Ost, along with Belarus and Ukraine. Thus Germany had at last achieved its long-wanted dominance of "Mitteleuropa" (Central Europe) and could now focus fully on defeating the Allies on the Western Front. In practice, however, the forces that were needed to garrison and secure the new territories were a drain on the German war effort. Colonies Germany quickly lost almost all its colonies. However, in German East Africa, an impressive guerrilla campaign was waged by the colonial army leader there, General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck. Using Germans and native Askaris, Lettow-Vorbeck launched multiple guerrilla raids against British forces in Kenya and Rhodesia. He also invaded Portuguese Mozambique to gain his forces supplies and to pick up more Askari recruits. His force was still active at war's end. 1918 Defeating Russia in 1917 enabled Germany to transfer hundreds of thousands of combat troops from the east to the Western Front, giving it a numerical advantage over the Allies. By retraining the soldiers in new stormtrooper tactics, the Germans expected to unfreeze the battlefield and win a decisive victory before the army of the United States, which had now entered the war on the side of Britain and France, arrived in strength. However, the repeated German offensives in the autumn of 1917 and the spring of 1918 all failed, as the Allies fell back and regrouped and the Germans lacked the reserves needed to consolidate their gains. Meanwhile, soldiers had become radicalised by the Russian Revolution and were less willing to continue fighting. The war effort sparked civil unrest in Germany, while the troops, who had been constantly in the field without relief, grew exhausted and lost all hope of victory. In the summer of 1918, with the Americans arriving at the rate of 10,000 a day and the German reserves spent, it was only a matter of time before multiple Allied offensives destroyed the German army. Home front The concept of "total war" meant that supplies had to be redirected towards the armed forces and, with German commerce being stopped by the Allied naval blockade, German civilians were forced to live in increasingly meagre conditions. First food prices were controlled, then rationing was introduced. During the war about 750,000 German civilians died from malnutrition. Towards the end of the war conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas. The causes included the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military, combined with the overburdened railway system, shortages of coal, and the British blockade. The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter", because the people had to survive on a vegetable more commonly reserved for livestock, as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the soldiers' rations. The morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink. Revolt and demise Many Germans wanted an end to the war and increasing numbers began to associate with the political left, such as the Social Democratic Party and the more radical Independent Social Democratic Party, which demanded an end to the war. The entry of the U.S. into the war in April 1917 changed the long-run balance of power in favor of the Allies. The end of October 1918, in Kiel, in northern Germany, saw the beginning of the German Revolution of 1918–1919. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war which they saw as good as lost, initiating the uprising. On 3 November, the revolt spread to other cities and states of the country, in many of which workers' and soldiers' councils were established. Meanwhile, Hindenburg and the senior generals lost confidence in the Kaiser and his government. Bulgaria signed the Armistice of Solun on 29 September 1918. The Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918. Between 24 October and 3 November 1918, Italy defeated Austria-Hungary in the battle of Vittorio Veneto, which forced Austria-Hungary to sign the Armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. So, in November 1918, with internal revolution, the Allies advancing toward Germany on the Western Front, Austria-Hungary falling apart from multiple ethnic tensions, its other allies out of the war and pressure from the German high command, the Kaiser and all German ruling princes abdicated. On 9 November, the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a republic. The new government led by the German Social Democrats called for and received an armistice on 11 November. It was succeeded by the Weimar Republic.81 Those opposed, including disaffected veterans, joined a diverse set of paramilitary and underground political groups such as the Freikorps, the Organisation Consul, and the Communists. Inventory ''' '''Infantry * German Soldier (Light) * German Soldier (Medium) * Stormtrooper (Heavy) * Jaeger * Sniper * Medic * Engineer * Pilot * Tank Crew * Flame Thrower Operator * Lieutenant * Sergeant * Officer * Machine Gunners * Mortar Team * Commander Calvary * Light Calvary * Landser German Soldier WW1 Early.jpg|German Soldier Early german soldier ww1 Mid.jpg|German Soldier Mid german stormtrooper.jpg|German Stormtrooper jaeger WW1.jpg|Jaeger german sniper ww1.jpg|Sniper german medic ww1.jpg|Medic german flamethrower ww1.jpg|Flamethrowers german machine gunner ww1.png|Machine Gunner german mortar team ww1.jpg|Mortar Team Uhlan.png|Uhlan Landser.png|Landser Vehicles ''' * Motorcycle * Büssing A5P * Ehrhardt E-V/4 * Flakpanzer A7V * Sturmpanzerwagen A7V * A7V Schützengrabenbagger LMG trench digger * Landwehr Zug * Überlandwagen Geländewagen A7V * Leichter Kampfwagen II * Bremen Marienwagen Gepanzert * Orionwagen * Orionwagen II * K-Wagen * Stürmpanzerwagen A7V-U Büssing_A5p.jpg|Büssing A5P Ehrhardt E-V 4.jpg|Ehrhardt E-V/4 Flakpanzer A7V.jpg|Flakpanzer A7V Sturmpanzerwagen A7V.jpg|Sturmpanzerwagen A7V A7V Schützengrabenbagger LMG trench digger.jpg|A7V Schützengrabenbagger LMG trench digger Landwehr Zug.jpg|Landwehr Zug Überlandwagen Geländewagen A7V.jpg|Überlandwagen Geländewagen A7V Leichter Kampfwagen II.jpg|Leichter Kampfwagen II Bremen Marienwagen Gepanzert.jpg|Bremen Marienwagen Gepanzert Orionwagen_1.jpg|Orionwagen I Orionwagen 2.jpg|Orionwagen II K Wagen.jpg|K Wagen Sturmpanzerwagen A7V-U.jpg|Sturmpanzerwagen A7V-U '''Naval * S90-class torpedo boat * S138-class torpedo boat * V1-class destroyer * V25-class torpedo boat * B 97-class destroyer * SMS Kaiserin Augusta * SMS Hela light cruiser * Victoria Louise-class protected cruiser * Gazelle-class light cruiser * Bremen-class light cruiser * Königsberg-class light cruiser * Dresden-class light cruiser * Nautilus-class minelayer * Kolberg-class light cruiser * Magdeburg-class light cruiser * Karlsruhe-class light cruiser * Graudenz-class light cruiser * Pillau-class light cruiser * Wiesbaden-class light cruiser * Königsberg-class light cruiser * Brummer-class light cruiser * Cöln-class light cruiser * Prinz Adalbert-class cruiser * Fürst Bismarck class unique armored cruiser * Prinz Heinrich-class unique armored cruiser * SMS Von der Tann battlecruiser * Moltke-class battlecruiser * SMS Seydlitz * Derfflinger-class battlecruiser * Mackensen-class battlecruiser * Ersatz Yorck-class battlecruiser * Brandenburg-class battleship * Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleship * Wittelsbach-class battleship * Braunschweig-class battleship * Deutschland-class battleship * Nassau-class battleship * Helgoland-class battleship * Kaiser-class battleship * König-class battleship * Bayern-class battleship * L 20e α-class battleship * U-Boat Aircraft * Fighter * Bomber Appearances All Quiet on the Western Front (1979) Category:World War 1 Category:German